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Kashmir suicide car bomb kills dozens of Indian troops

Dozens of Indian paramilitary police were killed in Kashmir after a suicide bomber drove an explosive-laden vehicle into their convoy. India has blamed Pakistan of involvement and pledged to "isolate" it.

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First-ever UN human rights report on Kashmir

First-ever UN human rights report on Kashmir

At least 41 police paramilitaries were killed and many others wounded in an attack on their convoy in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said on Friday. The bombing is believed to be the single deadliest terror attack in the region's history.

Muneer Ahmed Khan, a senior police officer, said the attack occurred on a key highway on Thursday, as the convoy reached the town of Lethpora on the outskirts of the disputed region's main city, Srinagar. He said one bus was destroyed and at least five other vehicles damaged by the blast.

Sanjay Sharma, a spokesman for India's paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force, said many of the injured were in critical condition. "The blast was so powerful that one cannot recognize whether the vehicle was a bus or a truck. Just pieces of mangled steel remain of the vehicle," he said.

A paramilitary official said the bus was carrying at least 35 soldiers. Khan said soldiers and counterinsurgency police reinforcements had been deployed in the area.

DW's Delhi correspondent Sonia Phalinkar said Kashmir is a "constant irritant" between the two nuclear-armed neighbors and this attack is a "reminder that the conflict is far from over."

India's foreign office described the group as a "Pakistan-based and supported terrorist organisation" and called on the neighboring country to "stop supporting terrorists and terror groups operating from their territory."

On Friday, Indian officials cited "incontrovertible evidence" that Pakistan had a "direct hand" in the attack and pledged a harsh response.

Taking strong military action "could alienate Kashmir," according to DW's Sonia Phalinkar. However, she said, failure to do anything could have "repercussions at the polls."

Following the attack, India pledged to withdraw the favored-nation trade status they had given to Pakistan and would take also all diplomatic steps "to ensure the complete isolation [of Pakistan] from international community," India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced.

Pakistan dismissed any involvement. "We strongly reject any insinuation by elements in the Indian media and government that seek to link the attack to Pakistan without investigations," the foreign ministry said.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

An unprecedented danger?

On February 27, Pakistan's military said that it had shot down two Indian fighter jets over disputed Kashmir. A Pakistani military spokesman said the jets were shot down after they'd entered Pakistani airspace. It is the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have conducted air strikes against each other.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

India drops bombs inside Pakistan

The Pakistani military has released this image to show that Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistani territory for the first time since the countries went to war in 1971. India said the air strike was in response to a recent suicide attack on Indian troops based in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan said there were no casualties and that its airforce repelled India's aircraft.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

No military solution

Some Indian civil society members believe New Delhi cannot exonerate itself from responsibility by accusing Islamabad of creating unrest in the Kashmir valley. A number of rights organizations demand that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government reduce the number of troops in Kashmir and let the people decide their fate.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

No end to the violence

On February 14, at least 41 Indian paramilitary police were killed in a suicide bombing near the capital of India-administered Kashmir. The Pakistan-based Jihadi group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility. The attack, the worst on Indian troops since the insurgency in Kashmir began in 1989, spiked tensions and triggered fears of an armed confrontation between the two nuclear-armed powers.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

A bitter conflict

Since 1989, Muslim insurgents have been fighting Indian forces in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir - a region of 12 million people, about 70 percent of whom are Muslim. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

India strikes down a militant rebellion

In October 2016, the Indian military has launched an offensive against armed rebels in Kashmir, surrounding at least 20 villages in Shopian district. New Delhi accused Islamabad of backing the militants, who cross over the Pakistani-Indian "Line of Control" and launch attacks on India's paramilitary forces.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

Death of a Kashmiri separatist

The security situation in the Indian part of Kashmir deteriorated after the killing of Burhan Wani, a young separatist leader, in July 2016. Protests against Indian rule and clashes between separatists and soldiers have claimed hundreds of lives since then.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

The Uri attack

In September 2016, Islamist militants killed at least 17 Indian soldiers and wounded 30 in India-administered Kashmir. The Indian army said the rebels had infiltrated the Indian part of Kashmir from Pakistan, with initial investigations suggesting that the militants belonged to Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, which has been active in Kashmir for over a decade.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

Rights violations

Indian authorities banned a number of social media websites in Kashmir after video clips showing troops committing grave human rights violations went viral on the Internet. One such video that showed a Kashmiri protester tied to an Indian army jeep - apparently as a human shield - generated outrage on social media.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

Demilitarization of Kashmir

Those in favor of an independent Kashmir want Pakistan and India to step aside and let the Kashmiri people decide their future. "It is time India and Pakistan announce the timetable for withdrawal of their forces from the portions they control and hold an internationally supervised referendum," Toqeer Gilani, the president of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front in Pakistani Kashmir, told DW.

India-Pakistan rivalry: Kashmiris pay a high price

No chance for secession

But most Kashmir observers don't see it happening in the near future. They say that while the Indian strategy to deal strictly with militants and separatists in Kashmir has partly worked out, sooner or later New Delhi will have to find a political solution to the crisis. Secession, they say, does not stand a chance.

Author: Shamil Shams

Germany, US condemn attack

Germany's Foreign Office responded to the incident, saying: "We condemn terrorism in all its forms. Germany stands by its strategic partner India."

The US White House condemned the attack and urged Pakistan "to end immediately the support and safe haven provided to all terrorist groups operating on its soil."

Modi denounces 'dastardly attack'

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi denounced the attack in a Tweet. "I strongly condemn this dastardly attack. The sacrifices of our brave security personnel shall not go in vain," he said.

Kashmir experienced many car bombings from 2000 through 2005, which inflicted high casualties on Indian troops.

Jaish-e-Mohammed conducted the last major car bombing in 2001 near a parliament building in Srinagar. The attack killed 40 people including three suicide bombers.

Most Kashmiris support the rebels' demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprisings and the Indian crackdowns since 1989.